Jeremy Corbyn's first conference speech as Labour leader was met with a standing ovation and rapturous applause in the hall in Brighton.
The Huffington Post UK's Politics team wasted no time in locating some top Labour MPs to get their response to Mr Corbyn's speech.
Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary
Genuinely I don’t think now is the time for detailed policies. I think it did speak to the country and that he said this was going to be a new approach and a different way of doing things. I think the country will have actually for the first time today thought this change is real, this is a break with the recent past. Jeremy Corbyn today has let some fresh air into British politics, he’s basically issued an invitation to the country to say ‘look, come and help us decide policy bottom-up’. I think a lot of people will find that quite an invigorating message so what you’ve seen today is a real moment of change in British politics.
Every leader puts their own stamp on things, but that’s the test of a speech. When you make your speech, do you really put your own stamp on things? Absolutely he passed that test with flying colours today.
I was relieved I didn’t have to do it! What was going through my mind was ‘let’s hope it’s what it should be for Jeremy’ and it was. I’m somebody who said I’d put the party first and serve the party in whatever way I can. He achieved everything and I felt a great deal of affection for him up there. We got well on the hustings and we all wish him well. Politics is unpredictable and I never took it for granted I would be up there and it was quite a daunting prospect to do it.
John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor
I thought it was terrific, I thought it was quite emotional. What Jeremy was doing basically was setting the tone of our future debates and the way the movement is going to go from here. That concept of kind and caring politics is what they want. I think people have had enough of spin, triangulation, stage managed conferences, and Jeremy was saying ‘That’s the end of that now, this is what I believe in, we’re going to have a discussion, we might have some differences on issues but actually we’ll respect others views.’ I think that’s what people want now, they’ve had enough of being corralled and bullied into subservience around issues.
What you see is what you get with Jeremy and that was typical Jeremy speech.
It was aimed at everybody, maybe more to the country as a whole because he was trying to say: ‘These are my values but I think these are British values as well’ and I think he struck a chord on that basis.
Margaret Beckett, former Foreign Secretary
I thought it was very good speech. If hadn’t been that long people would have said he didn’t say very much. I thought it was in the right league [as previous leaders]. He talked about things that were really important to people. There are some things, like Trident and so on, that they [previous leaders] wouldn’t necessarily have agreed with but on the other hand it was Tony Blair and Gordon Brown who both agreed we should commit ourselves to working for a world free of nuclear weapons as a government.
I wanted Andy Burnham to be leader and I’m sorry that he’s not, but credit where it’s due, that was a good speech.
It’s always risky [taking on the media] but on the other hand I don’t think they are going to love him no matter what he does.
Ben Bradshaw, former Culture Secretary
He came across as the nice, decent, well-meaning person he clearly is, but I felt he was preaching more to the converted than to those voters Labour needs to win back from the Conservatives to have any chance of winning the next election.
I would have liked to hear an acknowledgment that we have just suffered a catastrophic election defeat, an honest and accurate assessment of the reasons for that and what we must do to win in 2020.
Richard Murphy, Jeremy Corbyn's tax guru
I felt it was passionate, relevant to an audience, would transmit outside this hall although exciting in it and had some core politics which go from top to bottom, in particular the economics that hits at the seven million self-employed. They are really going to hear this and it’s going to resonate with them.
I will be honest with you I think the speech was too long. The speech should have been 50 minutes and it went on over an hour. He did housing twice, he did it at the beginning, he did it again. I felt on the second time he probably didn’t need it. He should have hit it really hard – housing is the key of it.
I would knock a mark off for going on for too long but a lot of it very good, so nine out of ten.
Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South
I have waited a long time to hear a speech that was unequivocally wide in its appeal but also got down to the real root of what it is to be a democratic socialist in the 21st Century. He was talking quite clearly about the vision and new politics we are going to set out over the next five years to the British people. It was a broad appeal it included people who were self employed, he was talking about small and medium sized businesses, he was talking about council homes, he was talking about education eh was talking about tolerance and respect and a new way of doing politics.
You have to remember we have a job to do. He had to reach out to both [the party and the public] There will be a slightly disproportionate amount of internal focus this time around because we have just come through a really bruising leadership contest. What we have to do is convince ourselves that first of all we have the right leader, the right politics, and we can move forward. There are some people in the party, who believe he isn’t. There are more that believe he is.
“They [the jokes] were good. I think Jeremy would be the first to admit he’s not going to do a stand up tour anytime soon. But I think they were pretty heartfelt. I think the first one was particularly good. Jokes when you are public speaking are always hit and miss. The asteroid one was good he was trying to say how ridiculous the whole kind of … some people did think in our own party with the election of Corbyn, conference would collapse, the Earth would stop spinning and the party would stop working I think quite a few people are surprised stuff is still working. He was playing on that.
Peter Kyle, the MP for Hove
“It was authentic, it was passionate. I am glad he was still in the process of reaching out. I am really pleased we can get past this period of being inward-looking as a party, this is the starting gun setting us off down a track towards the electorate, not staying within the left.
“He wants to listen to people. He was very clear he wants to listen people beyond the left in the general electorate. I am going to get out there this afternoon and putting these ideas out there are listening to what people say in communities and come back.
“What he has done is say he wants to listen to us and wants to have a debate with us. I am going to take that at face value.”
A Labour frontbencher
This wasn't very good. There was nothing much new and not well written, and feels like a first draft. There is a big sense of a wasted opportunity to win people over.
A Shadow Cabinet member
Of course it appeals to delegates but I think it does speak to a wider public as well who really do want politics to change. He’s started to take on ‘Red Tory’ jibes, which is crucial as well. Policy detail will come but will take awhile, apart from a few headlines for obvious reasons.